Six degrees of separation is the theory that any person in the world can be connected to any other person in the world through at most five acquaintances. In other words, I don’t personally know the president of
In college, I first encountered this theory during a lecture on the importance of using networking to find jobs. The professor asked students to raise their hand if any of us knew former President Reagan. No hands went up. Then the professor asked if any of us had friends or friends of friends who knew Reagan. Surprisingly to me, one hand was raised.
When I launched Traveling Teacher 2010 back in August, I wanted to test my own theory that the world is basically a friendly place and that someone could travel around the world relying on nothing but benevolence.
I have been humbled by the number of people who have read my blog. At last count, I’ve had more than 900 hits from 31 states, 17 foreign countries and two territories. I’m also humbled by the number of people who have voted on where I should visit and on which charity should receive excess funds that I don’t use on the journey.
I will take votes until May 1st 2010, when I’ll close the polls and travel to the top vote-getter. If the polls closed today, I would be headed this summer to
As it now stands, readers of my blog have generously donated $34.05 toward my journey. Thank you! Even though that’s not enough for a plane ticket, I’m optimistic, and at the very least if I can’t purchase a ticket, that money will go to the three charities.
I realize that economic times are difficult for many individuals, so I thought I would throw out my own six degrees of separation request to the airline companies, or if you know Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Donald Trump, that would be great, too, because they might be able to spare a few extra dollars for an airline ticket. Perhaps, the president of an airline has already read my blog and is waiting to surprise me with a ticket, once voters decide on where I’ll go this summer. If not, perhaps a friend of a friend of a friend, who babysits the son of the CEO of ___________Airlines will pass my blog along the six degrees chain.
While doing so, please let the CEO know that I’m not interested in going to ____________to just sit on a beach. I would hope to use this blog during my trip as an educational forum to shed light on people, places, and organizations that might otherwise not get noticed.
I kept such a blog back in the summer of 2008, when I was honored to be chosen to visit
In past posts, I’ve explained all of my motivations for Traveling Teacher 2010, but my strongest motivation continues to be to show my students that anything is possible. As a teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), I work with kids who, in many cases, have come from some very challenging situations in their native countries and who continue to face great challenges in this country.
If my students are able to see me doing the seemingly impossible – traveling around the world without any money of my own - then maybe they’ll begin to believe in their own seemingly impossible dreams such as attending college.
As the holidays unfold, I want to thank all of you who have read my blog and who have told others about it. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
In closing, I’ve decided from now on to end all my posts with a travel quote. This one comes from famed travel writer Freya Stark. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark
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